Gators on cusp of clinching SEC East
In his third season at Florida coach Dan Mullen has the Gators a win away from the Southeastern Conference championship game for the first time since 2016.
Sixth-ranked Florida can clinch the East by beating Tennessee on Saturday, something they’ve done 14 of the last 15 games in this series.
“This is the game to clinch the East, this is the game to assert our dominance and tell everybody we’re going to the SEC championship, and yeah, I think everybody’s pretty excited,” Florida linebacker James Houston said. “I don’t think too many people need motivation for this game. We all know what’s at stake.”
Mullen has Florida (7-1, No. 6 CFP) clicking with five straight victories and one of the nation’s best offenses led by a Heisman Trophy favorite in Kyle Trask.
The quarterback was a freshman the last time Florida played for the SEC title, and winning the SEC East has been these Gators’ first of many goals this season.
“We have a chance to do that on Saturday,” Trask said. “We’ll definitely be playing at our top level to get that done. It will mean everything to get back to Atlanta. I remember it just like it was yesterday, my freshman year we went in 2016. It goes by so fast. It would be cool to be back there and hopefully get a win.”
The Gators (7-1, No. 6 CFP) have been nearly impossible to stop, beating Kentucky 34-10 last week. As impressive as the performance was, it snapped a school-record streak of nine straight games scoring at least 35 points.
“The biggest emphasis on us is finding ways that we’ve got to improve as a team,” said Mullen who never won a division title coaching at Mississippi State.
While Florida is focused on fine- tuning, Tennessee (2-5) is just glad to play after COVID issues postponed their Nov. 16 game against Texas A&M and last week’s game with Vanderbilt was postponed by the SEC.
The Vols also have lost five straight, the longest skid since the 1988 team lost its first six to open that season. They haven’t played since Nov. 21 when they lost 30-17 at No. 23 Auburn, and this skid has fans questioning whether Jeremy Pruitt is the right coach for the program in just his third season.
“We just want to go out here and flip the script, we want to get this train back on the tracks,” Tennessee running back Eric Gray said.